The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-11
THE MEN WHO SPECULATE.
Broken-DOwn Rrokers-A Large Mum
Der Weak to Begin with.

Der Weak to Begin with.
While one sees occasionally person who
has made money in Wall street and kept il,
he more commonly sees the oldest and
strongest habitues down there either poor or
diseased The brokers require to lie perfect
ly sober 10 keep their heads, and the Gus
TONERS as well, yet the conditions of specu-
lation demand stimulation, and the widest
things are done when the head Is drunk.
You will find the stock exchange and all
other exchanges where speculation RACES
surrounded by drinking houses. and a large
proportion of these break in time because
their proprietors and clerks are drawn into
the market.
4 large Majority of the men who specu-
late weak To begin with. Here and
there you find a hard-brained man, without
much sensibility, started i'll life amid rough
associations, AMI To him the stock exchange
Is rather "A mild ami bccalming society. He
has learned to be- reticent. not 10 talk much,
not u show either his losses or his gains and
such n one extending his acquaintance may
POSSIBLY cooperate III time with his equals -
superiors and force the quotations according
10 his bets, for it is all betting i'll every event
Politicians, people Of literary turns actors,
officers of the regular army, advanced clerks
in mercantile houses, keepers of saloons,
butchers, hotel men. are among the sources
of supply for the stock exchange. Many of
these have not much training or education,
and but little moral courage; yet the atmoS-
phere of Wall street Is IA genial that of Il
gambling house when stranger enters it.
You go into the old fashioned gaming house,
if any such exist III our day. and you find
polite attention everywhere; order and quiet
are maintained The chief gambler is the
eS5ence nf discretion and comi'osurc. SO in
Wall street yOU can find the most agreeable
opponents of human nature, often useful
mon; the best age for a Wall street man
seems to Ice about 10. Thesr brokers not
often fools. They have often been mcr-
chants contractors. builders of railway lines
and approach the speculative part of their
work from the large and wholesome end.
He who goes 10 Wall street had best pos
sess some experience of real life beforehand.
When a man Is worn out there and his money
lost there is not tine least use for him, even
where good charity l. exercised, becaus,. the
business of the street is to buy and sell stocks
for commissions. and to work without any
security of pay il bore to the broker and
bal example TO his customers, best les an in
vasion of his book keeping and lemoraliza-
ton at large. In the ordinary pursuits of life
reckoning day comes every quarter or twit'e
II year. but in Wall street il comes every
dav Ii il II rule of the street to follow up
margins closely ami collect them promptly.
The mere sucker who goes down there with
IA few Thousand dollars has but little ilea Of
the huge brute strength he may have to en-
counter in the very room where lie keeps his
account He would hardly 90 IL private
poker room where experts played i'll order t.
hide his purse AMI his hand; why then should
lie enter II business office where til " gamble
from . o'clock until 3, only six hours out of
the twenty four, consider that he Is priv
legged i'll his communications No doubt
Z il dor. 10 h..
brokers, but good many of these brokers
are themselves operators, and i'll many cases
they have no other knowledge than orli-
mary newspaper reader or typographical
traveller would have of the condition of cor
pOratiunS. Gath in Boston Globe